Trolley-retriever.



E. GIERDING.

TROLLEY RETRIEVER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 19, 1914.

Patented Apr. 9, 1918.

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TROLLEY RETRIEVER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 19, 1914.

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TROLLEY RETRlEVER. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 19', 1914.

Patented; Apr. 9, 1918. iSqSHEETS-SHEET 3- WTTE %TATE% PATENT @FFTQE.

CHARLES E. GIERDING, 0E MANSFIELD, OHIG, ASSIGNOR TO THE OHIO BRASS COMPANY, 05 MANSFIELD, OHIO, A CORPGRATIGN 0F NEW' JERSEY.

TROLLEY-RETRIEVER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 1918'.

Application filed March 19, 1914. Serial No. 825,744.

To all whom it ma concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES E. Grnnnino, a citizen of the United States, residing at Mansfield, in the county of Richland and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Trolley-Retrievers, of which the following is a specification,

My invention relates to improvements in trolley retrievers and has more particular reference to devices of this character in which the trolley pole is automatically drawn or pulled down below the overhead system in the event that the trolley acci dentally or otherwise assumes a position wherein it would be likely to damage said overhead system.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide an improved trolley retriever of this character which will be simple, durable and reliable in construction, and effective and etlicient in operation.

()ther objects of my invention will appear hereinafter.

Referring to the accompanying drawings,

I Figure l is a vertical central longitudinal section, practically full size, of an improved trolley retriever embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section substantially on the line 2--2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse section substantially on the line 33 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a detail fragmentary plan view looking down upon the upper side of the structure shown in the first three figures mentioned; and I Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view of the timing or latch restoring mechanism; and

Fig. 6 is a similar perspective view the parts of the ratchet being shown separated.

My invention is of the type which is at tached to the car in a conveniently accessible position for the conductor and which is connected by the trolley rope B. One end of the trolley rope is connected as usual to the free or upper end of the trolley pole, and the other end of the trolley rope eX- tends down to the trolley retriever, where it is wound upon the service drum of said trolley retriever and then attached to saic drum. The service drum, through suitable mechanism, yieldingly maintains the trolley rope taut at all times, so as to render the trolley retriever instantly responsive to any abnormal fluctuations in the trolley pole, such as when the trolley leaves the wire. This service drum normally rotates to follow, in a sense, themovements of the trolley pole, and when the trolley pole fluctuates abnormally or leaves the trolley wire this service drum throws into action a retracting mechanism which is normally locked up under tension and in condition to operate said drum and pull down the trolley close to the top of the car. This mechanism is powerful enough to overcome the usual spring mechanism at the base of the trolley pole, and it remains in this operated condition until the conductor or other person restores the parts to their previous operating condition. In the structure shown I provide mechanism for automatically controlling the restoration of said parts so that they may be repeatedly restored to a predetermined operating condition. in the drawing has a suitable casing, which is preferably cylindrical in form. The rear end portion 1 of the casing is cylindrical in form and is oreferably the end which is attached in any suitable manner to the car. The portion 2 of the casing is enlarged in diameter to provide more room for the operating parts, and this easing has a removable cover 3 which is removably held in place by the pins 3 and the undercut lugs 2*;

a sufficient number of these being provided to securely hold the cover in place. One of these lugs, instead of being undercut, as shown in the lower end of Fig. 1, has a threaded hole which receives a screw 4:, so that after the cover is placed upon the easing portion 2 and rotated slightly to bring the pins under the undercut lugs, the screw l may be put into place to lock the cover against accidental displacement. The casing in general is divided into two compartments by means of a partition plate 5 (Fig. 1), which plate is removably held in place by a number of screws 6. The smaller cumpartment. which is that included SLlbSt2L11 tially within the casing portion 1, carries a powerful spring A in a spiral. This spring 1 term for convenience the retriever or retracting spring. It is held against expansion by a confining band 7, so that it may be removed from its chamber or compartment without danger of its completely unwinding. The outer end 8 of this spiral spring may be conveniently attached to the The structure shown casing in any suitable manner, such'for instance as by bending its end to form a hook, which engages a fixed lug 9 formed on the inner end of the casing 1. Extending centrally from the end wall of the casing portion 1 is a stud shaft 10, one end of which is normally anchored or fixed in a boss 11 in the wall of the casing, and the other end 12 of which reaches a'peiint adjacent the front wall of the cover and is reduced in diameter, as clearly shown in Fig. l. A large retriever disk or member B is rotatably mounted upon the shaft 10. This retriever disk has an extension 13 on its hub which extends through a suitable opening in the partition plate 5 and is positioned to be engaged by the inner end 14: of the retriever spring. The inner end of the spring is bent to form a hook which is engaged by a radial shoulder 15 on said hub extension (see Fig. l). The retriever spring just described is wound in such direction that it acts upon the retriever disk, through its inner hooked end and said hub extension, to urge the retriever disk in one direction of rotation. The inner end of the spring and the hub extension are formed as a ratchet, so that in the event, as will later appear, that the retriever disk acquires sufficient momentum under the action of such spring to cause it to continue to rotate after the strength of said spring has become spent, the hub extension will leave the inner hooked end of the spring and ratchet, so to speak, with respect to said inner end of the spring. This arrangement prevents the momentum of the retriever disk from winding-up the retriever spring in the opposite direction. The other compartment of the casing is comprised within the casing portion 2 and the cover 3, and Within this casing the retriever disk 13, a service drum C, and other mechanism by which the various operations of the device are performed, are contained. The casing has an upper elongated opening 16 through which the trolley rope It passes, and it has a lower similar opening 17 which permits rain and snow to drain from the device. The service drum C is positioned beneath the upper openin 16, so that the trolley rope R may wind upon its periphery 18. This drum has a couple of spaced end flanges 19 between which the rope R is wound and which confine the rope against accidental displacement wi h respect to the drum. The drum is rotatably mounted upon another hub extension 21 of the retriever disk B and is positioned adjacent said retriever disk so that, as will be hereinafter described, the disk and the drum may cooperate to act upon the trolley rope. it has a circular depression or compartment'in its outer end, which is occupied by what it term for convenience a service sping D. This spring is similar to the retriever spring A.

above described, and its outer end D engages a lug on the wall of the compartment, similar to the manner in which the outer end of the retriever spring is fastened. The inner end of the service spring D is fastened to a ratchet winding mechanism, by which the tension of said spring may be adjusted to suit the particular operating conditions. It will be seen, by inspection of Fig. 1, that the outer or reduced end 12 of the shaft carries a flanged sleeve 22, which is fastened against rotation by a pin 23. Over this sleeve fits a r0 tatable cap or hub member 24;. The flange of the sleeve 22 carries ratchet teeth 25, which are engaged by the corresponding teeth on the inner end of the cap or hub member 24, so that said hub member may be locked against rotation in one direction to the sleeve in any position to which it is rotated. A spiral spring 26, which is positioned within a disk-shaped portion 27 of the cover, bears against the hub member24 and the wall of said disk-shaped portion in such manner as to yieldingly hold said hub member in engagement with the teeth of the sleeve, and the hub member has a squaredend 28 projecting through the cover in position to be conveniently accessible from the outside of the casing. The purpose of this arrangement is to permit the ratchet mechanism to be rotated from the outside of the casing and the tension of the service spring accordingly adjusted. This hub 24 has a radial shoulder, which is engaged by the inner end 29 of the service spring in a manner similar to the construction with respect to the retriever spring above described. The service spring D constantly tends to rotate the service drum G in a direction to wind up the trolley rope upon such drum, and said spring is for this reason wound in the direction reverse to that of the retriever spring A; the reason for this is that the outer end of retriever spring A is fixed while it is the inner end of the service spring D which is the relatively fixed point. It is less powerful than the retriever spring A, however, it being essential that it should exert just sufficient tension upon the trolley rope R to keep said trolley rope taut at all times and thereby allow the drum to rotate in either direction in response to the rise and fall of the trolley pole.

The retriever disk B as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2, has a peripheral flange or rim B which extends over close tothe end flange 19 of the service drum. This flange has an arcuate offset portion B which has an elongated arcuate slot 30 in its periphery,

end,.to throw the other end or arm 33 of the latch lever beyond the periphery of the flange, the action of gravity acting upon this latch lever when the lever or latch occupies a position in the upper portion of the easing,that is, substantially in the position shown in Fig. 2. The inner edge portion 34 of the weighted arm of the latch is in the form of a cam, and I term this end of the latch the tripping end. The other arm 33 of the lever 1 term the lock end, because when this end is projected beyond the periphery of the flange it is adapted to engage a fixed shoulder or stop lug 35 formed on the wall of the casing portion 2, as clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 8. When this lock end of the lever is in the slot, the latch is substantially coincident with the arc of the flange portion B and permits the retriever disk to be rotated in either direction; but when said lock end of the latch is thrown beyond said periphery and is in engagement with the stop lug 35, the retriever disk B will be locked or restrained against rotation in the direction urged by its spring mechanism. A flat leaf spring 36 is fastened at one end to the offset flange portion B and its other end, as snown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4, bears upon an outstanding pin 37 on the lock end of the latch. This spring is preferably just sufficiently powerful to overcome the action of gravity on the tripping end of the latch and to hold or to urge the lock end of the latch in its inner position flush with the peripher Y of the flange portion B This spring is not sufficiently strong to press the lock end of the latch inwardly when said lock end is in engagement with the stop lug 35. lVhen the latch is in its locking position, as shown in Fig. 2, it will be noted that the tripping end projects inwardly beyond the flange portion B where its cam surface 3% may be struck by one of a plurality of tripping rollers 38. These rollers are carried in pockets 39, formed onthe end of the service drum in such manner that they lie substantially within the confines of the retriever disk flange B They are carried by the service drum and are in condition to be instantly responsive to the rotary movements of the service drum. It will be noted that these pockets 39 lie for the most part substantially at an angle to the radii of the service drum, but their outer ends are substantially radial and are positioned close to the flange B of the retriever disk. These parts are so proportioned that during the normal rotation of the service drum in following the normal fluctuations of the trolley pole, the tripping rollers will occupy positions in their pockets in accordance with the action of gravity and the circumferential position of their pockets at any instant during the normal rotations of the drum. Fig. 2 depicts substantially the relative positions of these rollers when their pockets or cells are in the relative position shown in Fig. 2. Should, however, the rotations of the drum .become abnormal or unduly quick by reason of the trolley leaving the wire, for instance, the centrifugal force acts upon the tripping rollers and tends to throw them outwardly against the retriever disk flange or rim B The particular tripping roller which happens at the instant to be near the latch E will fly out and strike the cam portion 3 L of said latch, and throw the lock end of the latch inwardly, thereby releasing the retriever disk and permitting it to rotate in the direction urged by its spring mechanism. In order that this retrieving rotation or action of the retriever disk may be communicated to the service drum, in order to wind up the rope upon said drum and pull down the trolley pole, the offset flange portion B of the retriever disk has a curved shoulder 40 and each of the tripping pockets have correspondingly formed shoulders 41. The shoulder 40 and the corresponding shoulders 41 are so arranged relatively to each other that during the relative rotation of the disk and drum they will confine between them the particular tripping roller 38 which happens to be in a position to actuate the latch E, as above described. This actuation occurs just after the roller has tripped the latch, and the effect is to interlock or lock together the service drum and the retriever disk. In consequence, the retriever disk carries with it the service drum to wind up the trolley rope upon the drum and pull down the trolley pole. The retriever spring A is sufficiently powerful to pull down the trolley pole in spite of the contrary tendency of the spring mechanism at the base of the trolley pole which tends to swing the pole upwardly. In consequence, the spring mechanism at the base of the trolley pole and the retriever spring acting in contrary directions will maintain the service drum and the retriever disk in an interlocked condition, this being obvious because the tripping roller will be confined between the two shoulders, as above described. These two parts remain interlocked after the trolley pole has been pulled down to the top of the car, and, in fact, until the retriever disk is returned to its previously locked condition and the service drum to its normal operating condition. To restore the parts it is simply necessary for the conductor to pull out the rope, that is unwind it from the drum. This rotates the retriever disk in a direction reverse to that in which it is rotated when pulling the trolley pole downwardly. In other words, pulling upon the trolley rope rotates the retriever disk in a direction indicated by the arrow X in Fig. 3 to wind up the retriever spring. It is desirable that a device of this character be capable of being restored repeatedly to the same predetermined operating condition. In other words, what amounts to the same thing, the retriever spring should be given the same num-.

ber of restoring or winding-up turns each time. In the structure shown I have provided a mechanism for controlling or counting the number of restoring turns to be given to the retriever spring. The retriever disk carries a lever 60 which is pivoted at one end at 61. This lever, I term for convenience of description, the latch restoring lever. Its free end 62 is preferably positioned substantially below the middle of the spring 36 and a little to one side of the pivot 31 of the latch, as indicated in Fig. 3. When this end of the latch restoring lever 6 is swung upwardly it is adapted to engage the spring 36 and ralse or flex outwardly said spring. The latch being thereby relieved of the action of said spring 36, will, by the action of gravity on the weighted end of said latch, throw the lock end of said latch outwardly or beyond the retriever disk in position to engage the fixed lug 35 in the casing, this being obvious on account of the fact that the spring 36 normally tends to hold the lock end of said latch inwardly, as before explained. Hence I have arranged the mechanism so that the action of lever 60 will not occur to relieve the latch of the spring tension until the proper number of restoring turns have been given to the retriever disk and the retriever. spring. I atecomplish this by means of an intermittent timing or counting mechanism. The retriever disk B carries a rotary Wheel or member F on an integral stud 50 which projects from one face of said retriever disk. This wheel is held against displacement on its stud by the cap or plate 51 which is fastened in any desirable way upon the end of the stud, as shown clearly in Fig. l. The timing member F has a collar or sleeve 54 mounted upon its hub portion and this sleeve has an outstanding lug 56 (see Figs. 3 and 5) which, during the rotation of the collar or'sleeve, is adapted to be brought under the free end of the lever 60 and force the free end of the lever into engagement with the spring 36, as before mentioned. In the structure shown, this collar or sleeve 54; is limited to slightly less than one complete turn or rotation in either direction. It is positively stopped at either limit of its rotation by means of a fixed integral lug 57 outstanding from the face of the retriever disk B and in the path of the lug 56 on said collar. One end 57 of said fixed lug is placed so that when the lug 56 strikes against it said lug 56 will be beneath the free end of the latch restoring lever 60 and in position to hold this free end upward against the spring 36, and this is the normal position of said lug 56 when the retriever disk is locked up under the tension of its re- 7 triever spring in condition to be released and wind up the trolley rope. Since the timing or counting wheel F is'mounted upon the retriever disk it will be bodily carried thereby during the rotations of said retriever disk. These parts are so proportioned that the counting member F will be intermittently rotated or given a step by step rotation or a partial turn each time the re: triever disk makes one complete turn. This is accomplished by providing the periphery of said counting member F with a series of equally spaced notches 52 which are adapted to engage a fixed pin or lug 53 outstanding from the partition plate 5. Thus it will be seen that each time the retriever disk makes one complete revolution the action of the pin 53 and the teeth or slots 52 will cause the counting member F to rotate a fraction of a revolution. Assuming now that the parts are in their normal operating condition, that is the retriever disk is locked up under tension by the latch, the lug 56 is beneath the end of the latch restoring lever 60 and the spring 36 is raised by the free end of said lever. Upon the occurrence of an abnormal fluctuation of a trolley pole the tripping rollers respond centrifugally and actuate the latch to release or unlock the retriever disk, as previously explained. The retriever disk now starts on its retrieving action and rotates in a direction reverse to that indicated by the arrow X (Fig. 3) and winds the trolley rope upon the service drum. In this retrieving direction of rotation the counting wheel F will be carried bodily by the retriever disk and each time one of the teeth or slots 52 of said counting wheel engages the fixed pin 53 the counting member F will be given a portion of a revolution in the direction of the arrow Y. This intermittent rotation of the counting member F occurs each time that the retriever disk makes one complete revolution. During this intermittent or step-by-step movement. of the counting member F the lug 56 on the collar 54 will be removed from beneath the latch restoring lever 60 and will be carried around until said lug 56 strikes the other end or side 57 of the fixed lug 57. It frequently happens in practice that the trolley rope breaks and consequently the .retriever will not have to act against the tension of the spring mechanism at the base of the trolley pole. This leaves the retriever spring to operate unrestrainedly, with the result that it imparts to they retrieving disk an abnormal speed and momentum in the retrieving direction. This causes the retriever disk to rotate many more turns than is necessary to bring the lug 56 against the end 57*; hence, if the collar 54 and counting member F were rigidly connected together, the result would be that the lug 56, in striking the fixed lug 57 before the retriever disk had finished said rotations, would bind the parts and perhaps even damage them because the retriever disk would be abruptly stopped. In order, therefore, to provide against any damage under such conditions, I provide a ratchet connection between the intermittent counting member F and the collar 54.. In the construction shown the member F has a series of ratchet teeth in one face and these teeth are engaged by and cooperate with correspondingly formed teeth 58 on the end of the collar 5%, as clearly shown in Fig. 6. The collar 54, as shown in Figs. 1, 5 and 6, has a recess in which a coiled spring 55 is positioned. This spring acts to constantly hold the ratchet teeth 58 in yielding engagement with the corresponding teeth 58 of the member F. These teeth are so proportioned that the collar 54 will be carried around with the member F in either direction of rotation of said member F. However, when the member F rotates in the direction indicated by the arrow Y, this ratchet connection will carry the collar 54 around with the member F until the lug 56 strikes the end 57 of the fixed lug 57, thus stopping the collar 54. It the member F, due to the breaking of the trolley rope, continues to rotate in the same direction, the stopping of the collar 54 will cause the ratchet teeth to slip. Thus it will be obvious that if the conditions above-mentioned ocour and the retriever disk makes a number of excess revolutions, the lug 56 engages the lug 57, but the member F will be free to be rotated by said retriever disk during said excess revolutions. It will be remen'ibered that the hub extension 13 ratchets with respect to the inner end of the retriever spring after the strength of said retriever spring has become spent. I so proportion these parts that the retriever spring will have become spent or completely unwound about the time that the lug 56 arrives into engagement with the end 57 of the fixed lug 57. Thus, in the event that the trolley rope breaks and the retriever disk rotates a number of turns in excess of the number of turns required to bring the lug 56 into engagement with the lug 57, these excess revolutions of the retriever disk will have no effect upon the retriever spring because, as above explained, the hub extension 13 will'ratchet with respect to the inner end of said retriever spring. In other words, after the lug '56 has been stopped by the lug 57 in the retrieving direction, the retriever disk is free to rotate an indefinite number of turns without having any efiect upon the other parts and their adjustment. Assuming now that such conditions have occurred, the, trolley retriever must be given itsipretletermined nu b r. .p ing turns as before explained. The conductor simply pulls out or unwinds the rope from the drum and thus rotates the retriever disk in the direction of the arrow X, as before explained, and of course the member F will be intermittently rotated in the direction indicated by the arrow Z, carrying with it the collar 54.- and its lug 56, and eventually restores the lug 56 to a position beneath the latch-restoring ever 60. The hub extension 13, of course, engages the inner end of the retriever spring, and since this occurs about the time that the lug 56 begins to leave the lug 57, the retriever spring will be given the number or" winding-up or restoring turns equal to the number of intermittent steps necessary to return the lug in its position beneath the latch-restoring lever 60. The teeth 58 and 58 of the ratchet are so arranged that the collar 54 cannot slip with respect to the member F during the restoring rotations in the direction of the arrow Z. In consequence, when the lug 56 strikes the end 57 of the fixed lug 57, the'ratchet teeth will positively prevent the member F and the retriever disk from further rotation. This serves to indicate positively to the conductor that he has given the retriever disk the proper number of restoring turns, and he thereupon eases ott slightly on the rope and allows the retriever disk to rotate slightly in the retrieving direction until the locking end of the latch engages the lug 35. This locks the retriever disk in position under tension ready to operate again when the abnormal fluctuations of the trolley pole occur. The locking up in this manner of the retriever disk of course restrains the retriever disk against rotation in the retrieving direction, and in consequence the service drum will move away from the retriever disk sufficiently to allow the tripping roller to drop back into its cell. The service drum is thereby released and is in condition to rotate in either direction in response to the movements of the trolley pole.

-What I claim is:

1. The combination of a retriever member, spring mechanism urging said member in one direction of rotation, a lock pivoted on the retriever member adapted to restrain said retriever member against rotation in said direction, centrifugal means for directly actuating said lock to release said re riever member, lock resetting mechanism adapted to be given a predetermined number of actuations during the rotation of said retriever member, and means permitting the retriever member to continue its r'ota tions in said direction after said lock resetting mechanism has been given its predetermi ed number of actuations.

2. The combination of a retriever member, spring mechanism tending to rotate said member in one direction, a latch normally holding said retriever member against rotation by said spring mechanism, latch resetting mechanism intermittently operable for determining the number of restoring r0- tations to be given to said retriever member, and means for setting said latch resetting mechanism without interfering with the number of rotations of the retriever member in the direction urged by its spring mechanism.

3. The combination of a retriever disk, spring mechanism tending to rotate said disk in one direction, a latch for restraining the disk from rotation by its spring mechanism, means for tripping the latch to release the disk, a rotary member adapted to be actuated intermittently by said retriever disk in either direction of its rotation, and a rotatable latch restoring device which has a slip connection and is intermittentl actuated only a predetermined number of times by said intermittent member regardless of the number of turns given to said intermittent member in one direction.

4. The combination of a retriever disk, spring mechanism tending to rotate said retriever disk in one direction, a latch carried by said retriever disk for holding the disk against rotation actuated by its spring mechanism, means for tripping said latch to release the disk. a rotary member carried by said retriever disk, means fror intermittently rotating said member when the re triever disk rotates in either direction, a latch restoring device adapted to be intermittently rotated with said rotary member a predetermined number of steps corresponding to the number of rotations which the retriever disk is to be given in the reverse direction for winding up the spring mechanism, and a ratchet connection between said rotary member and said latch restoring member for permitting the retriever disk to rotate in excess of the prede termined number of steps given to said latch restoring device.

5. The combination of a casing, retriever disk mounted therein, a spring mechanism urging said retriever disk in one direction of rotation, a latch carried by the retriever disk for holding the disk against rotation in the direction urged by its spring mechanism, a service drum around which the trolley rope is wound, means ac tuated by said service drum for tripping said latch and releasing the retriever disk, a notched wheel carried by said retriever disk, a fixed pin adapted to engage a notch in said wheel each time the retriever disk makes one rotation in either direction to intermittently rotate said wheel, a rotary device, a lug on said device adapted. when in a predetermined position, to allow said latch to resume its locking position, and a ratchet connection between said notched wheel and said rotary device,

a rotary 6. The combination of a rotary member and locking means normally restraining said rotary member against rotation, a rope reel upon which the trolley rope is wound, and mechanism actuating said reel to yieldingly maintain the trolley rope under tension, mechanism actuated by said reel adapted to respond to abnormal variations in the movements of the trolley for releasing said rotary member and interlocking it with said reel, means controlled by the reverse rotation of said rotary member for resetting said locking means after said member has been given a predetermined number of restoring turns, and means including a slip connection for limiting the movement of said resetting means when the rotary member rotates in the direction to retrieve the trolley rope.

7. The combination of a rotary retrieving disk, spring mechanism urging said disk in one direction, a latch for holding said disk against rotation, means for tripping said latch to release the disk, an intermittent counting device actuated by said disk for predetermining the number of restoring turns to be given to said disk, and means permitting the disk to rotate in the direction urged by its spring mechanism independently of said counting mechanism after said restoring turns have been predetermined.

8. The combination of a spring-actuated retriever disk tending to rotate in one direction, and to be rotated in the other direction to restore its spring mechanism, a pivoted latch carried by said retriever disk normally holding said disk against-rotation by its spring mechanism, a latch resetting mechanism adapted to be operated during the rotation of said disk by its spring for predetermining the number of restoring turns to be given to said retriever disk, and means permitting the independent rotation of said disk by its spring after the number of restoring turns has been predetermined.

9. The combination of a rotary retriever member free to rotate unrestrictedly in one direction, spring mechanism urging said retriever disk in said direction, means for rotating said retriever member in the other direction, and an intermittent rotatable device for predetermining the rotations of said retriever member in said other direction with a ratcheting slip connection to permit free rotation in the first mentioned direction.

10. The combination of a rotary retriever member tree to rotate unrestrictedly in one direction. spring mechanism urging said retriever disk in said direction, means for rotating said retriever member in the other direction, an intermittently actuated device for predetermining the number of revolutions of said retriever member in said other direction with a ratcheting connection permitting its tree rotation in the first mentioned direction, and means controlled by said device for limiting the number of revolutions of said retriever member in said other direction.

11. The combination with a rotary retriever member, of a spring to urge the member in one direction, the spring having a loose connection with the retriever member to allow it to rotate freely in one direction but not in the other, a device for predetermining the amount of rewinding turns for the spring having a ratcheting connection to permit free rotation in the first mentioned direction, and means for rotating the retriever member in the other direction to 'place it under tension.

a loose connection with the retriever member to allow it to rotate freely in one direction but not in the other, means for rotating the retriever member in the other direction to place it under tension, and an intermittent rotatable device for predetermining the rotations of said retriever member in placing it under tension with a ratcheting connection allowing free rotation in the first mentioned direction.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, on this 13 day of March A. D. 1914.

CHARLES E. GIERDING.

Witnesses:

W. C. STARKEY, J N0. L. Yorme.

Eagles at this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, I). C. 

